Evolution IS a scientific fact, Is this true.?

Question

"Evolution IS a scientific fact, we have discovered fossils that have been proved without a doubt, to be millions of years old, so why are there still people who really think that the Earth is only 6,000 years old?Are they semi-retarded?"-- This person seems to that the rest of us are retarded. What are good reasons to show that he is misled.

Answer 1

nope

not proven to be true

ask any evolutionary scientist....they would agree that it isn't a proven fact

Answer 2

It depends on what he is describing as "evolution," and no, it is not a fact in the way we usually use the word Fact. That animals change is almost 100% a fact. (plants more so)

What we actually see is a new species, that has resemblance to species from the same era or the previous one appearing in the fossil record.

That they come from other species is conjecture, but like 99% certain. The alternative would be that they pop into existence out of nowhere resmbling animals from a previous era. We do not know how that could possibly happen, so the "pop into existence" theory is not accepted, even though; to be honest, it has almost as much evidence from the fossil record as the alternative. From other principles of science that we know, and comparison studies of modern animals that suggest genetic relationships, we reject the pop into existence theory.

That they develop slowly through single gene mutations into another species is not evidenced in the fossil record. What we see is sudden massive changes that would require thousands of genes changing. We do not know what could cause this. We lean on the slow mutation theory because there is no other theory, not because it explains what we see. It explains what we see better than any other theory, mainly because there is no other theory.

As to rocks being "proved" without a doubt to be millions of years old, this cannot be so. I've heard people say that the rocks were created 6,000 years ago with age. That's unprovable, and not disprovable either. It is in the same boat as the claim that the world was created 15 seconds ago with age, and we all have false memories we were created with. That claim cannot be proven or disproven.

If we disgard such a claim, which science must because it is not a scientific claim (meaning it cannot be examined using the scientific method), then we have to say the evidence is that the rocks are millions of years old.

Answer 3

Let's be clear about what we're discussing:

The Earth is indeed 4.5 billion years old (give or take a few million). This is not a guess, it's a measurement.

What we know for a fact about life on Earth is that all living organisms ever discovered are related by common descent - they're all one family.

Where there is debate is over exactly how evolution has produced the life we see today and in the fossil record - there is plenty of debate about particular mechanisms involved, but not about the fact that it happened or the fact that all living organisms are related by common descent.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

This person isn't mislead. Anyone who claims that the earth is 6000 years old, evolution is false, intelligent design is a credible concept, or any of the other fundamentalist propaganda needs to sign up for the Special Olympics.

Evolution has been proven many times over. It conflicts with religious belief, so of course, they tried to invent arguements about its magnatude. All evolutionary change is the same...the scale doesn't matter. The small changes represent the larger changes.

The earth, as well as the universe, has been proven to be billions of years old. It's not that difficult of a concept. 3rd grade children are taught and understand this.

Intelligent design is neither. Its a falacy that tries desperately to present itself as science, but in reality, its a perversion of the scientific method. It serves no purpose, except to allow those unwilling to accept education to feel smart.

Answer 5

He isn't misled. You -are- retarded if you believe the earth is that young....


Now I am not claiming that I believe anything can be proven beyond doubt (since all knowledge is assumption, the universe is defined through our senses and those are inherently flawed). There must ALWAYS be doubt, or else science could never progress... but we should be willing to accept at least on a temporary basis the most probable given explanation at any given time.
Evolution as a process has been shown to be fully consistant with other science as we know it, with the geological and biological evidence present in rock records and living genomes respectively. Furthermore, reliable rock-dating procedures have demonstrated consistantly that the Earth is around 4 and a half billion years old, or thereabouts (3.5 billion years of life, 1 billion years of multicellular life)... and there is no natural counterevidence to that case..... hence it is only right that we accept it as true.

You would have to be fairly stupid not to at least take it as the most probable answer...

Answer 6

Not really. Every one can his own beliefs. In fact even though evolution is a scientific fact, there are still argument on the theory behind it.

Keep an open mind.

No body thinks Earth is only 6,000 years old, but some religious group thinks civilisation is only 6000 years old.

Answer 7

To be honest, evolution is a scientific theory. But, christians, and other religious people, will try to use that fact to say it isn't true. And with that, they will determine that creationism is correct by default, even though there is no evidence(other than a book) that support their argument at all.There is much evidence supporting evolution, but scientist do not know exactly how it works, and exactly why it takes place. Because of that, it remains a theory.

Answer 8

Hmm. So far you've just provided reasons to think that he's right.

If you wanted to show that he's misled, you might start by admitting that evolution is a fact, that there are fossils that are millions of years old, and that those people who think that the world is 6000 years old are simply accepting propaganda. Then make sure that you never repeat that idiotic "evolution is just a theory" slogan, or worse, the "it goes against entropy" nonsense.

That'd go a long way towards your goal.

Answer 9

While I personally DO believe that evolution is fact, it is not proven. An easy way to show this is that, by definition, no scientific studies can ever "prove" anything 100%. Technically, gravity is not "proven." But there are things (like gravity) that we can reasonably rely on and trust that they (99.999% likely) will not be disproven.

Answer 10

That evolution occurs is a fact.

How the process of evolution occurs is a theory.

Answer 11

A good starting point is to consider the fact that evolution is every bit as plausible as the alternatives !